Signing day drives subs for Rivals.com

Rivals.com this month reached new heights for subscription sign-ups as the one-month countdown to national signing day for football recruits got under way, company executives said last week.

Shannon Terry, president of Rivals.com, said that on Jan. 8, more than 1,000 people purchased a subscription, which costs $10 a month. Terry would not give numbers for the full Jan. 4-10 week, but he did say the growth this month has brought Rivals.com to a best-ever total of more than 90,000 subscribers.

Rivals.com comprises a network of recruiting and team-specific college sports Web sites. Last year at this time, it had about 50,000 subscribers.

Terry said the expansion over the summer of the site's library of video content, which includes footage for more than 1,000 prospects, is the primary reason more people than ever before are visiting Rivals.com in the weeks before national signing day, Feb. 4.

"[Video footage] allows us to have a deeper, more compelling product," Terry said. "It didn't take very long to realize we hit something big."

— Russell Adams